Celebrate Your Special Occasion at El Gaucho in Bellevue, WA — Restaurant Review

Food

Jan 27

Hey friend, I’m Michelle.

My husband Kevin and I are self professed foodies living just outside of Seattle. We love to share our thoughts on the restaurants we try so you know if it’s worth a visit and the money (if we’re being honest).

Guess what? We made it another year. 🎉

Last weekend we celebrated our 12th wedding anniversary at El Gaucho in Bellevue, Washington. El Gaucho has been going strong because good food is the best form of marketing (and the romantic ambiance doesn't hurt either). So we went to a well known local restaurant, El Gaucho.

El Gaucho is a wonderful place to go for celebrating any milestone. From graduation, anniversary, or a new baby, El Gaucho has you covered!

We’ll give you all the deets about the customer service, food, and price point so you can decide if El Gaucho is the right place for your special occasion.

Let’s get into it.

The History of El Gaucho

This restaurant prides itself on excellent service, and quality of ingredients (which are locally sourced as much as possible). With multiple tableside menu options, like caesar salad and flambe desserts, and attention to detail with life’s biggest moments — El Gaucho is an unique experience.

El Gaucho was originally opened in 1953 where Paul Mackay eventually became General Manager. But after 23 years in business, the owner passed away. The restaurant was sold and then closed not too long after. In the meantime, Paul opened his own restaurant and in 1996 opened the first location of El Gaucho in Belltown. It’s been a staple in the greater Seattle area ever since.

El Gaucho now has six locations, including one in Portland, Oregon and Vancouver, Washington.

Classy Customer Service

The customer service is 20/10. The incredible service and doting staff is just part of the El Gaucho experience. Four or five people wished us a happy anniversary during our anniversary dinner, and they weren’t even waiting on us.

Our waiter, Mo, was knowledgeable about the menu. He offered recommendations and took the time to answer our questions. He had the perfect balance between checking on us and giving us time and space to look over the menu and just enjoy being together.

When you make a reservation on their website, they ask if you’re celebrating something special. On our table, we had real, red rose petals sprinkled on top of the white tablecloth with a candle and a card signed by all the staff. When booking, you have the option of a table on the main floor or on the second floor balcony overlooking the main dining area. We chose the balcony because it was more intimate, with fewer people and noise.

(Plus, it’s fun to people-watch everyone down below.) 😉

What really set their customer service apart from anything else I’ve ever experienced was our complementary cheese plate and our tableside bananas foster dessert — on the house!

Amazing customer service and attention to detail are just part of the El Gaucho experience.

Let’s Talk About Food

The menu is locally sourced from Wahington and Oregon. Since we’re in the Pacific Northwest, the seafood was on point. Absolutely loved it. First, we started off with complementary garlic bread topped with shredded cheddar cheese. My love for bread runs deep, so we asked for seconds. It was the perfect appetizer while we had the tough job of deciding what to order.

Drinks

Their drink menu was just as tempting as their food menu! I got the French 425 with sparkling white wine, fresh lime juice, grapefruit juice, gin, and elderflower liquor. It was a light sip with soft citrus flavors. My husband got the Iron Butterfly with red bitters, bittersweet meletti amaro, bourbon, and fresh lemon. We took a break between our entree and dessert with the fruity, sweet, and tangy Gaucho Cosmo.

A few other drinks that caught our eye are:

Blood Orange Old Fashioned
Smoked Old Fashioned
Dulce y Fuego

I would recommend the Iron Butterfly or the Gaucho Cosmo. Those were our two favorite drinks.

Soup

If you love soup, you won’t be disappointed here! We had the French Onion soup and Crab Bisque. The French Onion soup was perfectly made with slightly sweet, caramelized onions and a thick, melty layer of cheese on top, and served in a small peasant-style clay bowl. Mmmm, so good. The Crab Bisque had light, delicate pieces of Dungeness crab in a red, creamy broth with light and peaty whiskies. The bisque was on the salty side but not overpowering. If you have sensitive taste buds, it might be too salty for you.

Seafood and Other Specialities

Kev got the Oven Roasted Half Chicken with a mushroom and roasted corn ragout. This was actually one of the more affordable options on the menu, and it was quite a large portion. The chicken was juicy on the inside with slightly charred edges on the outside, like a rotisserie-style cook.

I got the Diver Sea Scallops & Grilled Prawn Linguine with a light and fresh herb, beurre blanc sauce. The scallops were perfectly seared on the top and bottom with a melt-in-your-mouth middle. Unfortunately, the prawns were slightly overcooked with a little bit of a rubbery texture, but they were still delicious.

Next time we want to try the:

Ahi Mignon
Vegetable Tagliatelle
Canadian Lobster Tail

You really can’t go wrong with a seafood dish in the PNW.

Dessert

El Gaucho has two tableside flambé dessert options. One with cherries (which isn’t our jam) and a Bananas Foster, which we ordered. They only make the tableside options for a minimum of two people, so keep that in mind. But I hope you’re celebrating with friends and family because that’s always more fun. Our chef explained what he was doing as he made the dessert and explained the history as well.

He started by browning some butter and then added 80-proof Jamaican rum and let it reduce in the pan. Then he added a ton of brown sugar and fresh lemon juice to balance out the flavors. It started to bubble a little bit, and then the chef added the bananas, lowered the heat, and added more buttah. It was served with a scoop of vanilla ice cream from the Olympic Mountains.

We don’t usually choose caramel for anything because it’s so sweet, but we scrapped every drop off of our plate. We wished we had more! The caramel sauce absorbs the subtle, sweet banana flavor as the bananas cook in the caramel sauce. Our only complaint is that it was a smaller portion, and we wanted more bananas!

But that sauce… I wanna take a bath in that caramel, then I can die happy.

Price Point

Let’s address the elephant in the room — price. If you search for nice restaurants, Google rates this restaurant with four dollar signs. However, they do have more affordable options on the menu as well. You can get a mixed green salad on the happy hour menu for $7 or get the Steak El Gaucho for $89 on the dinner menu.

You can totally make this place work to fit your price range. We got two soups, three entrees, two desserts, and three drinks and our bill was $218, including the tip and taxes. Not exactly a cheap date, but an appropriate splurge for the occasion.

They automatically add a 20% tip to your bill. I saw some reviews where people were complaining about this, but I think the tip is more than fair — and it saved us from having to do any math!

The waiters at El Gaucho prepare tableside dishes, and they deserve to be compensated for going above and beyond for making you feel special. Having said that, we plan on going back to try their happy hour menu as well. But, in general, we recommend El Gaucho for special occasions.

Parking

In Seattle, and its surrounding areas, parking can be… a nightmare. Parking is painless at this location. El Gaucho offers valet parking for $12. Or you can park in the attached parking garage.

Directions

From I-405, take exit 13A for NE 4th Street.
Drive west on 4th toward downtown Bellevue.
Turn right onto 108th Ave NE.
Turn right onto the first available driveway, you should see a sign that says El Gaucho with an arrow for easy reference.
Drive straight to park in the garage.

You don’t even have to walk. Just take the elevator directly from the parking garage up to El Gaucho, turn left when you get off of the elevator, and you’re there.

Don’t forget to get your parking validated at the hostess desk before you leave.